Marketing Strategy of SKF India: Overview & STP Analysis

About SKF India: Company Overview

Svenska Kullagerfabriken is the full name of the company (Swedish Ball Bearing Factory). It’s used in businesses, companies and corporations worldwide. Svenska Kullagerfabriken (SKF) is a global bearings manufacturer that offers bearings, seals, spindles, and related services.

SKF was established on February 16 1907, in Gothenburg, Sweden. The founder of SKF was Sven Gustaf Wingqvist. Since this company is represented in over 130 countries through its own sales companies and over 17,000 distributor locations with 87 manufacturing units in 24 countries, Gothenburg, Sweden is its headquarters.

And India is one of the countries where manufacturing units are located. Pune, Bangalore, Haridwar and 3 more manufacturing facilities are located in India. With 12 offices and over 300 distributors, supplier networks, and an employee base of more than 2600 dedicated professionals, it continues to serve the varied markets with reliable solutions.

In the year 1923, SKF started its operations and today provides industry-leading automotive and industrial engineered solutions through its five technology-centric platforms: bearings and units; seals; mechatronics; lubrication solutions and services. In these years, the company has evolved from being a pioneer ball-bearing manufacturing company to a knowledge-driven engineering company helping customers achieve sustainable and competitive business excellence.

SKF India has converted its operations into 3 different companies – SKF India Limited, SKF Technologies (India) Pvt. Ltd, and SKF Engineering and Lubrication India Private Limited (formerly referred to as Lincoln Helios (India) Limited).

Marketing Strategy of SKF India 

Let’s learn about the marketing strategy of SKF India and how SKF carries out the marketing campaign, etc.

Segmentation, Targeting, and Positioning

Segmentation – SKF India is a manufacturing company that caters to automotive and industrial customers in India. SKF India uses a B2B marketing strategy. The following are some strategies that SKF India uses:

One of their strategies was to link manufacturing product development and sales to marketing. Putting those products into practice within a structured context would help SKF to grow their business in traditional segments like pulp and paper and to identify new business opportunities in segments such as food and beverage.

A better understanding of the needs and challenges of their customer would also make SKF’s marketing more effective. Days before the COVID-19 pandemic, SKF India would sell its components to distributors, who would then sell them to end customers from the auto industry to steel manufacturers and paper mills.

Targeting – SKF’s main target audience is wholesalers and the public who need products such as bearings and units, seals, mechatronics, lubrication solutions and services as it is a manufacturing company.

Positioning – SKF India is a manufacturing company that stores its products in warehouses, either rented or owned.

Marketing Campaigns

SKF India now does not have any marketing campaigns. SKF India uses the same marketing techniques as its competitors are using. The marketing campaign which they can follow from their competitors is advertising on television, launching an advertisement in newspapers, launching a short corporate film, and other marketing ideas.

SKF India launches such advertisements and other media campaigns to increase its presence in India and other foreign countries.

Social Media Marketing

SKF India is active on social media like Instagram, LinkedIn, and Facebook. It has more followers on Instagram than on Facebook and LinkedIn. The range of followers on the social media platform is

Instagram: Followers: 46.2k
Facebook: Followers: 47.7k
LinkedIn: Followers: 24.3k 

We can say that LinkedIn is more of a professional sort of social media, which excludes a lot of people as most of them don’t have an account on LinkedIn. The posts most of the time contain promotional and informational content, along with some posts related to their new product launch.

SEO Strategies

As per SEO ranking, it is said that the number of keywords is terrible if it is below 1000. It is best if it is above 5000 or 10000. As we can see, skf.com has 235,321 organic keywords and it’s considered amazing. That means the digital marketing of SKF is gaining a good number of insights. Also, the traffic per month is around 1.3 million, which is the best. Hence, we can say that SKF has already worked hard enough and worked on SEO strategies to keep the brand at the top of the Google organic SERP results.

Influencer Marketing 

SKF India doesn’t support influencer marketing as the company deals with automotive and industrial engineered solutions, which are: bearings and units, seals, mechatronics, lubrication solutions and services.

My opinion is that the company should start promoting their products through influencers because it will bring more sales back to the company itself. 

E-Commerce Marketing

The management of SKF decided to build a technology platform in-house. An online marketplace called emarketplace.in.skf.com was formed. “The website is accessible within the SKF website ecosystem,” said Sumit Mitra, Director – Strategy, SKF India. “So, within skf.com, we have the complete website and the e-marketplace,” he explains.

This may also influence how it operates and manages its online marketplace. Unlike its competitors, it cannot guarantee quality to its customers when selling through third-party online platforms.

Mobile Apps

SKF has a mobile app and it’s known as “Skf Bearing Assist”. It has more than 50k+ downloads and a 4.2 rating. The application can be activated on both Android and Apple devices. But there is also a need to update the application and make it more user-friendly.

Content Marketing Strategies

SKF India is very active on social media. The post content is related to the new products that they are selling, launching, etc. The only source of posting content is through Facebook or Instagram and also their websites and applications. They even have posted some blogs on their website. 

This ends our elaborative marketing strategy of SKF India. Let us conclude our learning below from the marketing strategy of SKF India.